Mangaluru police have so far arrested eight persons allegedly involved in the murder of Prashant Poojary, a Bajrang Dal activist.
According to Mangaluru Police Commissioner S. Murugan, of the arrested, five were allegedly directly involved in the murder on October 9.
They are searching for one more person, allegedly directly involved in the murder.
Of the eight, four were arrested on October 18 and the remaining four on October 20. Mr. Murugan said the police were also searching for those who abetted the crime.
The police suspect that Poojary’s activities as part of the Hindutva outfit — which included preventing cattle transport and forced closure of places where the outfit suspected slaughter of cattle was taking place — could have been the reason behind the murder.
The accused have told the police it was an act of “retaliation” against the activities of Hindutva outfits in the region, which were perceived as targeting Muslim youth.
